The Italian authorities have recovered 60 bodies and rescued 80 people after the precarious boat in which more than 200 people had been traveling for four days from Turkey.
Sources of the Carabineros (militarized police) They confirmed to Efe that the bodies of the migrants, among which there is a newborn and at least 12 minors, are located along several kilometers along the coast of the Calabria region, in the vicinity of Steccato beach. (Crotone province).
It may interest you: 6.2 earthquake shook Papua New Guinea, in the early hours of Sunday.
According to the same source, it is not ruled out that the death toll reaches one hundred, since between 200 and 250 migrants were traveling on the boataccording to the first testimonies of the survivors.
The images shared by the local press show the pieces of a completely destroyed wooden boat on the beach.
Although at first it was believed that the boat broke up after colliding with some rocks, the survivors explained that the engine that pushed her exploded in the middle of the nightcausing dozens of injuries and eventually wrecking the boat.
The Italian authorities were already aware of the existence of this vessel since yesterday, when they were alerted by a helicopter from a Frontex agency patrol, the newspaper revealed. The Republic.
Also read: Russia launches ship to the ISS to rescue two trapped cosmonauts.
After the call, a device went out in search of it, but rough sea conditions and darkness made it impossible to continue operations and forced its agents to return to land.
Thus, the survivors who managed to stay alive reached the coast by their own means, where they are being treated by the Coast Guard and Red Cross. Twenty of them have been transferred to the hospital of Croton while the rest remain in a shelter.
The vast majority, all under 30 years of age, come from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistanand they left for Italia from the port of the town of Smyrne, at the western end of Turkey.
Government of Italy spoke out for this tragedy
“It is yet another tragedy in the Mediterranean that cannot leave anyone indifferent”, lamented the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Matterella, in a statement.
The president pointed out that it is “It is essential that the European Union finally assume the responsibility of governing the migratory phenomenon in order to free it from human traffickers”.